Seven Swords
by Mushmallow62
Summary: AU, modern Heihachi and Kyuzo find jobs in a bar. Will the loner find romance? KXK hopefully!
1. Job Search

AU story here, so there will be no samurai, or peasants, or any such things as that. Though I will have all of the characters in, though not a hundred percent sure where most of them will go………………. But the characters that will be in this and the next couple of chapters, here are the ages for them:

Kirira – 19

Heihachi – 25

Shichiroji – 31-ish

Kyuzo – 25

Katsushiro – 21

Gorobei – 40-ish

It's a romance and there is no yaoi here, so some may breathe a sigh of relief. LOL!

Chapter 1

Job Search

The ginger haired man wearing dark brown combats and a leather jacket smiled as he and his blonde haired companion walked towards a bar for a job interview. As usual his friend was silent, saying nothing other than the occasion word or two when it was needed in the conversation.

Though it was after the interview that the red eyed man spoke, and Heihachi knew that his friend was not one to be nervous, so he gathered it was due to his annoyance over the bar's owner.

"Why did we even go?" The man wore a dark red leather coat, as they walked towards a cheap café to have lunch.

"Because we have to pay the bills?" Heihachi told him; "Relax, something will come our way; obviously it wasn't meant to be,"

"I don't see why you are trying to be a barman, with you're……." Kyuzo began an age old argument.

"It's just for the rent, once we have jobs, I'll look for something more of my profession. Right now though it's not easy to find anyone who wants to hire me," Heihachi told him, after they put an order in.

"Huh," Kyuzo said, which wasn't much, but Heihachi understood him better than most.

The two weren't childhood friends, far from it. They met in college at the library of all places, Heihachi spotted Kyuzo reading a book that he needed, and it was the last one. Of course, the blonde wasn't reading it for fun either, so in the end they compromised, they shared the book while they studied. That was the beginning of their unusual friendship.

Heihachi smiled over his rice, Kyuzo wasn't exactly a usual guy, he was quiet and a lot of the time people forgot he was there, but considering he does stand out a fair bit was an achievement. Not that his quietness meant that he was timid or anything of that sort; in fact the ginger haired man had seen his friend fight people who he really shouldn't have been able to defeat.

"Here," Kyuzo interrupted Heihachi's train of though to give him a newspaper clipping.

Bartender Wanted

Must be friendly with a good disposition

Must also be over 21

"This looks good…….. We could……." Heihachi trailed off, seeing how Kyuzo looked at him; "What?"

"Friendly? Good disposition?" Kyuzo said those words quietly, and Heihachi looked sheepish.

"Good point, but what…….."

"You have an interview at 3 today for them," Kyuzo stated; "You're to see a Mr Gorobei,"

"Kyuzo," Heihachi was touched; "Have you………."

"I have a test to take," The blonde saw his friends confusion; "I'll be working at the door,"

"You'll be a bouncer," Heihachi laughed, Kyuzo was exactly what you'd expect a bouncer to look like. The red eyed man was slight, and some may even have the gall to call him girly, though those who do usually end up in hospital, so he was hardly your stereotypical bouncer.

"Hurry up, you need to get ready," Kyuzo told his friend, who practically inhaled his rice and they left the café to return to there flat, and get ready for the afternoon.

XOX

Heihachi walked towards the bar, and saw a blonde haired man sweeping. However, unlike his friend Kyuzo, this man had a friendly aura about him, albeit he was much older than he and his friend.

"Hey, you're here about the bartender job, right?" The man asked him, with a smile on his face.

It was a nice change to see someone enjoying their work; "That's right,"

The ginger haired man saw the blonde looking at him, and then laughed; "Your much friendlier in person that on the phone,"

Heihachi's heart stopped; _Kyuzo did this? He phoned up, as me?_

"Come on, I'll let the boss know you're here," The man walked across the floor, pushing in a few chairs as they passed; "I'm Shichiroji, but everyone has this habit of calling me Momotaro," The blonde shrugged.

Heihachi laughed, he knew the fairy tale well.

"All right," Momotaro stood in front of an office door and knocked.

"Come in," A male voice said, it sounded friendly to Heihachi, so he didn't feel too worried.

Momotaro opened the door, and Heihachi walked in, the blonde man closed the door, leaving the ginger haired man alone.

The room was brightly coloured, not exactly a typical office, honey yellow coloured the walls, and the carpet was a navy blue tone. The man was dark skinned, with a scar on his left cheek, though his eyes showed humour.

"So you're Heihachi?"

"Yes sir," The ginger haired man replied, though he felt the 'sir' part wasn't exactly necessary.

"Heh, you seem more……… Happy in person," The man smiled; "But I suppose it was Kyuzo who phoned on you behalf,"

"Yes sir, he knew I was after a job, and we were both job searching………" Heihachi was worried, could Kyuzo's helpfulness blow his chances at this job?

"Relax, he's loyal," The dark skinned man said with a slight nod; "That's what I like, and please, don't call me sir, I'm Gorobei,"

"Kyuzo is loyal to anyone he feels deserves it," Heihachi told him.

"I like you, you put people at ease without any difficulty on anyone's behalf," Gorobei brought out a form; "If you fill this in, I'll show you around. I see you've already met Momotaro,"

"Yea, how did he get that nickname?" The ginger haired man inquired.

Gorobei laughed; "I've no idea, the name just stuck,"

And so Heihachi continued to talk away to his new boss, while filling out his form.


	2. First Night

I know it has been about four years now since I wrote the first chapter; so I apologize to everyone for that.

Chapter 2

First Night

Heihachi arrived at the bar a good deal earlier than Kyuzo, he felt that he had to, to make sure that everything was stocked up and ready for opening; it was what he always did in his past bar work.

However he was in for a surprise. Unlocking to door with the key Gorobei had given him he saw a group of people already doing various jobs to get the bar sorted. He didn't recognize any of them.

"Heihachi!" A familiar male voice called over and he turned to see Momotaro, who was putting a load of bottled drinks into each fridge under the bar; "You're early... I thought you began at six?" He raised an eyebrow at the other as he looked over his watch.

"Well, I'm kinda used to having to fix up the place first," The ginger haired man explained, rubbing his neck.

"Gorobei should have told you, I get to do all that, along with some hired help, we get the place all ready, you bartenders just need to get in and be sure you know where everything is," He grinned; "But since you are here, you are an extra hand! So I am putting you to work,"

With that said, Heihachi followed everything that Momtaro told him to do; from the right number of chairs to each table to making sure the ice machine was working, to double checking the beer taps were working.

When he saw Kyuzo enter the bar, who was wearing all black as was the standard dress code for the bouncers of this place, Heihachi looked at his friend in confusion;

"What's the time?"

"Six," Kyuzo stated.

"Wow, heh, time flies when you're cleaning!"

"Now you know not to make that mistake again," The older male told him; "Hey Kyuzo, go on upstairs, Tessai should already be there,"

"Right," Kyuzo walked away from them and up the stairs that were to the side of the bar.

Opening the door to the staff room he saw the man that he gathered was Tessai; a short, plump man with rather bad teeth; Heihachi had met him already and dubbed him the stereotypical bouncer.

"So, you're the new guy?" The man was blunt, which surprised Kyuzo, since he had never met someone who was so direct and to the point.

"Yes," He answered, glad that he never allowed himself to show his surprise, perhaps his eyes gave him away, but the shorter man said nothing of it.

"Good. You'll be working the door," He told him beginning to leave the room before turning back; "You have done this before?"

"Yes,"

"We'll see..." The man said and left the room; "Being a bouncer here is a lot harder than most people think," and saying that he closed the door.

The younger man just hoping that tonight someone would come along tonight to cause a scene; just because he felt the urge to hit something. _Hard._

He looked at the lockers that took up the majority of the wall opposite the door; his was six, Gororbei had already told him that his 'tools' were inside.

A club I.D card, to be put around the neck, or around the wrist; a UV torch to check out any suspicious I.D's, and also a radio to keep in contact with the other bouncer's and the staff at the bar. He wrapped the I.D around his wrist, the cord tight against his skin and he pocketed the rest before putting his wallet and key's in to the locker when he heard someone come into the room.

"Oh, hello," The voice was delicate and feminine.

Turning he looked at her; long brown hair, brown eyes, peachy skin, wearing a read vest top and cropped jeans. She smiled at him, taking in what he was wearing as well, combats, turtleneck jumper and boots, as well as the messy blonde hair and sharp red eyes.

"You are our new bouncer?"

He nodded in reply, taking the key and putting it in his pocket.

"I'm Kirara," She introduced herself and held her hand out.

Kyuzo mentally sighed, he hated the moments of introduction; however he had no real choice, he took her hand into his a shook it.

"Kyuzo," He said and left the room.

Kirara watched him leave, wondering if she had offended him in some way.

Later on in the evening the bar was in full flow; a decent queue of people were waiting to get in, a horde of people waiting to get served at the bar; with Heichachi being run off his feet with the orders, but he was fully enjoying it. The small talk people gave him, sober or drunk, it was the best kind to him, but he did notice one guy; who was always trying to get Kirara's attention; but she kept ingoring him and instead sent Hechiachi over, but the man wasn't wanting to be served.

"I need to speak to her,"

He raised an eyebrow; "What's your name?"

"Katsushiro,"

"I'll see what I can do," Was all he said, with the man nodding his head in thanks and backing away to the side of the bar.

It was a while for him to speak to Kirara about Katsushiro though, he was at the opposite end of the bar, however over the next hour he did gradually get closer to her and spoke;

"Kirara? Katsushiro..."

"Please don't," She interrupted him as she filled up to glasses with beer and gave them to the customer; "Katsushiro is the reason why we are always looking for a new bouncer,"

"Why?"

"He's good at fighting, I doubt that Kyuzo would stand a chance," She explained, taking the tops off two bottles, getting two long glasses and filling them with ice.

"I don't know," Heichachi commented with a grin, giving a customer two vodka shots; "Kyuzo is good,"

She looked at him, completely startled; _didn't he know?_ She shook her head and got back to work, deciding that it would get her mind off Katsushiro.

For Kyuzo manning the door with a pink haired man, it was quiet aside from the drunken louts who tried to barge in, nothing exciting had happened.

Their radio's did go off, however his partner had said it was nothing to worry about just a regular, who was always a bother.

"He has a habit of harassing Kirara," He explained.

"Why is he not barred?" Kyuzo asked, wondering why Gorobei would allow some man to harass his bar staff.

"Money talks, even Gorobei isn't immune to it,"

That was something the blonde knew too well, every good bar always had a bad side, he and Heihachi were usually the casualties. For Heihachi it was his desire to speak the truth, to tell the person who annoyed him why he refused to serve them; while for him it was his inability to let the same people Heihachi refuse to serve walk all over him and talk trash about his friend.

"Where is he?" He asked and the other just looked at him.

"You can't be serious. Katsushiro isn't the type that you can send away peacefully,"

"Fine by me,"

The pink haired man sighed and clicked the radio; "Is Katsushiro still...?" He never finished.

"Can someone _please_ get him to leave?" Kirara spoke, sounding nervous and shaken.

The blonde took the radio from his partner; "Where?"

"By the stairs... To the office,"

"Perhaps if you just..." Tessai spoke in the background, sounding rather grumpy.

"I will not reduce myself so cheaply," She snapped back at him.

Kyuzo looked at his partner who nodded;

"Before she causes a scene,"

Moving inside he looked around, gathering his bearings. He had no idea who this Katsushiro was, since the bar was so busy and there was a lot of people by the stairs. Walking through the mass of bodies he got to the stairs and began to walk up them when he felt eyes boring into him, he glanced to the side and saw a young man, probably only a few years younger than himself, glaring at him.

He opened the door to the staffroom, spotting Kirara in mid-rant at Tessai. It appeared that the stout man had once more put his foot in it, as the young woman looked furious; but she paused and looked over at him when she heard the door close.

"Kyuzo, you think you can deal with Katsushiro?" The older man asked, not truly believe that this man could do it, so many had tried and failed.

"Yes," He stated simply, turning to Kirara; "Which is he?" Although he already had an idea, he had to make sure.

She took him to the blinds and opened the a bit, pointing out the man with the dark green hair and green eyes that had glared at Kyuzo as he came up.

He nodded his thanks and began to leave the room when she spoke;

"Be careful,"

Saying nothing he closed the door behind him and walked down the stairs; Kirara continued to watch from the window as he approach Katsushiro and gestured for him to follow.

"We'll need another advert," The stout man stated; "He's not cut out for this,"

She continued to watch however, noticing how the blonde wasn't fazed by the other yelling at him, he never allowed any emotion leave him face or eyes.

"He's doing well," She informed him, and he walked to the window to look out but the two men had left the bar.

"Hm... Maybe, but just because we can't see him doesn't mean it's over,"

Kirara calmed herself, all she ever felt like doing to Tessai was slap him; she didn't understand why Gorobei would hire such a man; but as Shichiroji told her, he was good at picking the bouncers for the bar, and he had years of experience.

Suddenly the radio spoke;

"He's gone," Kyuzo's voice said.

Tessai looked at the machine in surprise; as did Kirara, but she left the room and quickly went back to helping the others serve drinks.

"How did he do it?" The stout man asked himself, wondering how a slight man such a Kyuzo managed to take on the one man who posed such a challenge to all the other bouncers.


	3. Stalker

Chapter 3

Stalker

Heihachi woke up late in the afternoon, rubbing his eyes he sat up and thought over last nights work; _did last night actually happen?_

It felt good to be working behind a bar again, however he did wonder over that Katsushiro guy. He got out of bed, deciding that he need to have breakfast and at least try to spend the remainder of the day doing something instead of getting up a few hours before he had to go in to work. Kirara had said that a bouncer finally removed him, but he wondered, why did she feel threatened by that man?

Walking along the narrow hallway he saw Kyuzo in the kitchen, reading a news paper with a cup of tea in front of him.

It was moment's like this that Heihachi wondered about his friend; he managed to get home at the back of two in the morning while Kyuzo was told to stay behind.

"When did you get in?" Heihachi asked, getting the rest of the sleep out of his eye.

Kyuzo lowered his paper to look at his half-asleep friend; "Three," He also knew that there was more questions to come, the ginger haired man was too easy to read.

"Did you know what happened to that Katsushiro guy?" He asked; "Kirara was really nervous about him, though I wonder why, he seemed fine to me,"

"He's not right,"

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow.

"He was convinced that they were _together_,"

"Were they?"

The blonde shrugged, he only learned that from Katsushiro as he led him out of the bar, and he felt it had nothing to do with him, all he did was his job.

"Heh, might need to go in tonight and get some gossip," Heihachi said with a laugh.

Kyuzo just looked at him and was about to go back to his newspaper;

"Why did Tessai want to speak to you?"

"I have the job,"

He looked at the blonde; "Wait, I thought..."

"Gorobei gave me a test, but to Tessai dealing with Katsushiro was the real test,"

"Wow," He rubbed his neck; "Wonder why,"

"He's a known fighter," Kyuzo stated and received a startled look from his friend.

"How do you know that? Kirara said he was good at fighting..."

He shrugged in reply, the information he got was reliable; but the source was not, there was no real point in telling Heihachi about that though.

"How did you get him to leave? I heard that no one stood a chance against him,"

Kyuzo looked at his friend, a small smirk playing on his lips; "I didn't fight,"

"WHAT?" He looked startled; "Then how..." He never finished, he didn't need to.

"He asked me to give her a message,"

"Saying?"

The blonde looked at his friend, and at times, like right now, he felt that Heihachi should have been born a woman, given his love for gossip. However he knew full well that his friend wouldn't give up on finding out what Katsushiro had told him, and the fact that the man hadn't told him not to tell anyone but Kirara...

"That he forgives her," He informed him; "I will speak to Gorobei about it tonight,"

He scratched his head as he left the kitchen, allowing Kyuzo to go back to his newspaper and drink his tea; "That guy..."

"He said _what_?" The brown haired woman looked at each man in turn as they sat in Gorobei's office; "I don't understand..."

"Kyuzo?" Gorobei looked at the other, letting him know to continue on.

"He is convinced that you are a couple,"

"That's a lie!" Kirara exclaimed, the color drained from her face from that one sentence Kyuzo uttered; "Why is he after me?"

"We know that, but it seems the rumors are true, Katsushiro isn't right in the head," Gorobei told her calmly; "Perhaps you should take the night off,"

"No!" She exclaimed, shook her head and tried to calm herself; "No, sorry, I can't do that,"

"I'll still pay you,"

"No, it's not that. Katsushiro... there are times when I think he's around... Waiting..."

"It's perfectly justified to feel paranoid in this situation,"

"How long?" Kyuzo interrupted them and the two looked over at him; "How long has he been doing this?"

She blinked at him, then looked away; "I've been here for two years, so probably a year and a half,"

He raised an eyebrow; "Is this all he does?"

"Aside from sending flowers and other gifts here, no," Kirara paused for a moment, closing her eyes to recover a memory; "Once he sent some flowers to my home,"

"He knows where you live. Call the police," He stated, and turned to Gorobei, wondering what his answer on this subject was.

"I can't," She told him, sounding hopeless.

"Katsushiro comes from an influential family, it's one of the reason's why we can't bar him from here. Money talks, if we refused to let him in all of us would be out of work in this city, the police are on the same boat,"

The blonde remained silent, nodding his head in understanding, keeping a note of all this information to be used later, should he need it.

"The good thing is that he didn't fight you," Gorobei continued; "Which is impressive,"

Kyuzo stood and left the office, the dark skinned man didn't stop him.

"May I..." Kirara looked nervous; "May I do a short shift tonight?"

"You think it might work?" He asked, knowing what she had planned and she nodded; "All right, if you are sure. But perhaps Tessai should escort you home, just in case?"

"It's all right, I can handle it," She assured him and left the room.

Gorobei remained at his desk, opening the file that he kept on his lap, he had flicked through it before, not really paying any attention to it; after all to be a bouncer you just needed the right requirements and background training as well as the qualifications; all of which Kyuzo had. It was the psychology part that made him wonder though, it was all too... well... unlike the man he saw in front of him, both at the interview and today. Kyuzo could never be a psychologist, he had something about him that made you think that you shouldn't mess with him; but it didn't surprise the dark skinned man that so many people underestimated him though.

_Kyuzo, what do you want to be? _As he pondered, he began to wonder if Kyuzo didn't have his own personal blocks to beat.

Once again Heihachi was enjoying his night, but he noticed that Kirara was a bit quieter than she had been the previous night.

"Are you okay?" He asked her, beginning to make cocktails for his customers as she took the tops off the vodka mix.

"Yea, I'm fine," She smiled, but he noticed it didn't reach her eyes; "I'm just tired,"

"Are you sure?" He didn't believe her, but he wouldn't force her to tell him.

"Yea, I'm okay. Gorobei is letting me finish early today," She added and moved away before he asked another question.

Gorobei was watching over the bar from his office, but he didn't see Katsushiro in the mass of bodies, a cough caught his attention and he looked at Tessai.

"Why should one of my men follow..."

"Kirara has been working here for sometime," Gorobei interrupted the man; "Before I even bought this place over, she's good at what she does, otherwise I wouldn't have kept her on," He looked back at the people who filled the bar, carefully keeping an eye out for Kirara; I might be powerless to ban Katsushiro from here, but I do protect her in other ways," He took the radio out of his jacket pocket and clicked it on; "Kyuzo? Can you come to my office please?"

Amid a lot of noise, mainly drunks leaving the bar he heard; "All right," in reply to his request.

In five minutes the blonde haired man entered his office, Gorobei gestured to a seat;

"Come in, come in,"

Kyuzo sat down, noticing that although Gorobei took a seat behind his desk, Tessai remained standing carefully watching him.

"I have a favor to ask,"

Kyuzo allowed his eyes to drift over to the dark skinned man, already knowing what the question would be; "You want me to make sure she gets home safely,"

He smiled; "Would you mind?"

"When?"

"Her shift will end in an hour," He glanced at the clock on his desk; "But she can't know you are following her,"

"Sir, if that boy is around..." Tessai tried to interjected.

"I'll deal with him before she knows either of us are there," Kyuzo stated calmly and Gorobei laughed while the stout man just looked at him.

"I like you. You knew exactly what I was thinking,"

"I'll go..." He stood up only to see Gorobei shake his head.

"You can swap with Kiba, that way you can keep an eye on Kirara and see where she goes. Normally she takes the back door," Tessai interrupted, finally deciding to go along with the plan, since he couldn't stop Gorobei.

Kyuzo looked at the darker man, who spoke; "Myself and Tessai will work the rest of the shift, just let us know if anything happens,"

The blonde nodded and left, replacing Kiba, a scarred man with a blonde Mohawk who went to man the doors.

Heihachi nodded to him; surprised that his friend was actually inside, considering that all the other bar's they had worked in found Kyuzo much better placed outside than in, since his personality didn't go well with some people; or any really. He was just extremely good at keeping the disruptive folk out of the bar's, so good in fact that it was a waste to have him inside; not that Kyuzo ever complained about it, if he got into a fight it was good enough for him.

But the ginger haired man was curious, of course, he would just learn about the reason's tomorrow, and he could bet five bowls of rice that Kyuzo knew he would ask about it too.

About an hour later Kyuzo was bored, a few people tried to engage a conversation with him, but he just glared at them and they backed away; he kept looking out of the corner of his eye and now saw Kirara going upstairs as Gorobei and Tessai came down a few minutes later.

The dark skinned man smiled at the blonde;

"Not much for conversation are you?"

_That's right, he can watch us from his office, Kyuzo_ thought to himself, as he nodded in agreement and gave him the radio. Keeping to the shadows he watched Kirara come back down and left via the back door.; he quietly followed her, watching as she moved onto the main street although she kept looking about herself and looked nervous.

The blonde knew why, but he didn't see Katsushiro at all and once she was home safely he was ready to leave when he heard her scream.

The fact that Kirara wasn't meant to know he had been sent to follow had entered his mind, but given the fact that he needed to know why she screamed like that... It was no contest, he opened the door, surprised to find she hadn't locked it behind herself when he saw why;

The hall way was full of flowers, all types of flowers, and she was on the floor shaking with fear;

"How? How..."

"Kirara," He spoke softly, walking up to her slowly and crouching down next to her; "Kirara?"

She looked over at him, her brown eyes full of unshed tears; but once she saw him she closed her eyes and sighed; "Gorobei sent you,"

He didn't deny it; "Get your things," He told her and she glared at him.

"This is my home,"

"He has been here, when you were out, I'd suggest you call the police,"

"We've spoken of this before..."

"Then get your things," Kyuzo repeated, his voice left no room for her to argue, and if she was honest, she was scared of Katsushiro coming back to the flat, and who knows what would happen if she was actually in?

He held out his hand to her, which felt completely foreign to him, but right now he had to push himself out of his comfort-zone and focus on her. She took his hand and he helped her up, allowing her to lean against him to steady herself.

"Gorobei asked you to follow me," It was a statement; "I'm surprised he choose you and not one of the other's,"

"Katsushiro knows them," Kyuzo stated as she began to make her way to her room, while he carefully looked around the apartment.

_How could he have gotten in?_ Kyuzo thought as he checked all the windows in the main rooms were intact and locked; _Picked the lock? Easy to do with practice, but then he would need to lock it again, which would be harder to do... Not impossible, but time would be wasted and who knows what Kirara's neighbors are like?_

"I could get the locks changed?" Kirara said and he turned to her, she had a sports bag packed.

Kyuzo looked at her; "We'll go back to my flat,"

Her eyes widened at the though; "But.."

"You need sleep, since you don't want the police involved. Gorobei is working your shift, we'll see him tomorrow," He informed her, opening the door and glancing around.

"All right," She turned and switched off the lights, following him out of the flat.

She looked at him as he closed the door, gesturing for her to lock the door as he pulled out his mobile.

As she locked the door twice, she was surprised to hear him speak in a more friendly tone to whoever the person on the other line was, she turned to him as his conversation finished.

"Five minutes," He stated, and she blinked, realizing that he called a cab.

The whole journey; the wait, the drive, being led into a bedroom that had mostly books around the walls; the night felt completely endless to her. She felt she couldn't fall asleep, there was too many thoughts pressing into her mind; how could Katsushiro have gotten in? How?


	4. Thoughts

Chapter 4

Thoughts

Once again Heihachi got up to find his flat mate was already up, in the kitchen and drinking tea while reading that mornings paper. Again he wondered how Kyuzo could get up so early after such a long night.

"Kirara is here," The blonde stated quietly.

Heihachi was startled; "Wha... When...?"

Kyuzo suppressed a smirk, knowing what was going on in his friend's mind; "No, I was asked to keep an eye on her last night. She is no longer safe in her own home,"

"Shouldn't Gorobei be helping her?" He asked, confused; he and Kyuzo have not been working there for long, to let one of them keep an eye on the longest serving member of staff... Well, Gorobei must either be crazy, or have a lot of trust.

"She'll see him today. It was easier to just bring her back here rather than go back and speak to him,"

Although he knew it did make complete sense, last night was rather busy, but he wasn't sure if this was a good thing for Kyuzo to actually do; "What type is he then?"

"Stalker. Delusional. Stupid. I doubt he's working alone,"

"Shouldn't the police be dealing with this? They do have more... Experience," Heihachi said the last part quietly, it wasn't something that Kyuzo spoke about often; his own personal dream.

"They don't want the police involved,"

_Figures. With Katsushiro being from a wealthy family the police would just be bought... But..._

"Kyuzo, what about Kambei?"

Red eyes glared at him and he felt his neck hairs stand on end as he held up his hands to explain;

"I just mean, he could help; after all, he did say if you needed anything to call, and I think with this type of problem, you need help. Besides, team work right?"

The blonde closed his eyes, knowing Heihachi made a valid point, and that he couldn't argue with it.

Shimada Kambei was his teacher, or had been, until he left. He was the man that Kyuzo wanted to follow, one of the few reason's why he did that course, even when it put him into positions that he wasn't completely comfortable with.

Kambei gave him a reason to actually continue the course, with him wanting to learn _more_ from the man; since he was the man who caught the Kanna bomber; although it did cost four police officers their own lives and many people felt that this was why Kambei had left everything behind, becoming a recluse. As far as he was aware, no one actually knew where he was, and he was one of the few who actually had a contact number.

"_If you need me Mr Kyuzo," _Kambei had said to him, giving him a folded up piece of paper with a mobile number on it. The man was unusual in the fact that he called them Mr or Miss but still used their first names, everyone in the class had tried to figure out why, but Kyuzo didn't really care.

"Later," He stood up and folded the newspaper, finishing his tea and placing the cup into the sink, for him to wash up later.

Heihachi heard noises from Kyuzo's own room and looked at his friend in surprise; "She's in your room?"

Kyuzo just nodded while giving him a look; _Where else?_

Heihachi was going to ask another question, when they both heard a female voice speaking, not to either of them though.

"Komachi I'm all right, there is nothing... Komachi!" Kirara exclaimed to whoever she was speaking to on her phone, but lowered her voice, remembering herself; "Gorobei will know what to do. Don't worry, I'm safe,"

"Get dressed," Kyuzo spoke suddenly, causing his friend to jump in surprise.

He nodded though and left the kitchen to go back to his own room just as Kirara came out of Kyuzo's and walked quietly to the kitchen.

Spotting the blonde she spoke; "Good morning,"

He turned to her and nodded in reply, picking up the tea pot and pouring the tea into the two cups in front of him. One had a childish picture of a tree and the other was just a plain blue cup that he handed to her, gesturing to the sugar and milk on the table; along with some toast that was cold and some cereal. He walked towards Heihachi's room and knocked, something that surprised her, since she didn't think Kyuzo was overly respectful, but once more she was wrong about the man who helped her.

The ginger haired man was disheveled, but he was fully clothed as he took the cup from his flat mate.

"Thanks," He closed the door as Kyuzo moved back to the kitchen.

In his room, Heihachi wondered. Kyuzo was never one to back down from a challenge, even if it placed him into a position he wasn't comfortable in. That was why he took the course back when they were in Uni; but both of them were just wandering after they graduated, doing nothing with their degree's, even though they both were good at what they did; somehow neither of them went into it further.

For him, he decided that it was too isolated, being away from one's family for various days, working at unreasonable hours, it didn't seem to be worth it. However with Kyuzo? He wasn't sure, and he was in no way, shape or form going to ask him! However, he could, of course, guess. Right now his main guess was Kambei; that was the whole reason Kyuzo actually sat up a paid attention in classes – not that he didn't before, but from what he had seen of his friend when their classes crossed over, he looked bored, but he still took in all the information.

Kambei made Kyuzo go into situations that he had to react to, that he had to act in, that he had to have emotions actually present and on display for the others to see!

At first Kyuzo had hated it, and he couldn't blame him, it did _seem_ like Kambei was picking on him because he was so detached, but later when they were in situations in the latter part of their course, both of them could see that he had needed it.

Then Kambei had left before the course finished, although Kyuzo had passed and had been offered positions, he had turned them down and so both he and Heihachi went off to find work.

Looking back, he found it so hard to believe that their first jobs out of University was in a restaurant! He was a waiter while Kyuzo had been a cleaning boy; one of those who wipes down the tables and makes sure there was cutlery set. Needless to say, he didn't last long, an abusive customer got into his face and the blonde retaliated after one too many hard shoves. Kyuzo wasn't unemployed for long, he found work as a bouncer easily after that incident; since a man who owned one of the local bars was in the restaurant at the time and managed to find out where Kyuzo lived. In that process he also managed to get Heihachi a job too, and so began the journey of the bars in the city.

But what was going on at Seven Swords, with Katsushiro being involved... It didn't settle well with him, he knew full well that to Kyuzo it was a challenge, but he didn't have any power to make anything stick, he had no authority and he had no friends in the police division. The only way that he would be able to actually do anything to help Kirara would be to call Kambei!

He sipped his tea as he sat down on his bed, at least Kyuzo was brilliant at making tea.

Kirara thought the same thing as she finished her tea while glancing at the news paper that had been left on the table. It was the same news, someone was killed, something blew up, some country is breaking the rules; she remembered why she never read newspapers after she left home, it scared her too much. Considering what happened last night, maybe she should have kept up to date with certain things though.

"Gorobei should already be at the bar," She told the blonde softly, as he washed the dishes that had been used that morning.

He nodded and dried his hands; "We should go now,"

She moved to place the cup into the sink and give it a quick wash, but Kyuzo took it off her and just placed it in the sink, she raised an eyebrow in question.

"Heihachi can do it," He told her simply, leaving the kitchen to put on his black boots.

Kirara moved to get her things together and put on her own shoes as he knocked once again on his flat mates door.

"We're leaving," Was the blunt statement.

"Oh, all right," Heihachi actually came out to see them away, and Kirara found that he really was the same as he was in the bar.

Kirara rather liked him for being like that, no act in the bar like most of the bartenders were, it was refreshing.

"Well, see you tonight!" He said with a smile as they walked to the bar.

Part of her wished it was him who was taking her to the bar, rather than Kyuzo. She pushed that thought out of her mind, that wasn't fair on the blonde, who did look after her last night. She just wasn't used to men being so quiet, and it appeared that Kyuzo was like this all the time.

"Kyuzo, why did you decide to be a bouncer?" She decided to try and learn something from the man next to her.

His red eyes looked over at her, appearing to pondering over her question; "Because it was there,"

"What do you mean? Surely you wanted to..."

"I did want to do something else, but I am good at this,"

Kirara bit her lip, knowing what it was like to have a dream and just being able to fulfill it because something gets in the way, but he didn't seem like the man that would back down from a challenge so easily.

"But, if you wanted it, why didn't you try?"

He stopped walking and just looked at her, for a moment she felt her heart stop, wondering if she had said the wrong thing, if she should have remained quiet about her own thoughts. Looking into those eyes of his, auburn in colour she realized not blood red, that the eyes were curious, not angry.

"What makes you think I haven't?" He questioned her and they began to walk on.

"You don't seem the type that would be defeated easily, or allow yourself to be beaten," She explained, now knowing that if she wanted to know what he was thinking, or roughly so, she had to look into his eyes.

"I haven't,"

She blinked at the statement, unable to get used to how blunt he was being; "What did you want to be? Gorobei said you must have been good at it,"

Kyuzo smirked, and looked at her; "I trained to be a police officer," He noticed her startled look and his eyes gleamed in humor; "I was to be a profiler,"

"A profiler?" She repeated, unsure as to what that was.

"I was to be part of a team, to help the police, or any other government law body, to catch criminals, figuring out who they are as people. We go into the UNSUB... The criminal's head, think as they do..."

"And catch them that way," She finished, surprised and looked at him; "That's why Gorobei..."

"I can't help, the police will be bought by Katsushiro's family. I don't have any influence,"

"And we already know it's him doing this,"

He remained silent, not wanting her to learn his theory of Katsushiro, but they came to the bar and entered via the side door.

Shichiroji was sweeping up and looked up at them; "Hey, Gorobei is in the office,"

The two moved towards the stairs to find Tessai leaving the office and Gorobei was next to him.

"Ah, Kirara! Kyuzo! Come in," The dark skinned man said, as the two continued up the stairs.

"Watch yourself Kyuzo," Tessai murmured as the two passed each other, which made him wonder, what did the older man mean?

"So what happened?" Gorobei asked them as they were seated, Kirara told him what happened in her flat while Kyuzo listened.

It made no sense, was Tessai warning him? No, unlikely, the man didn't like him at all, you didn't have to be a genius to figure that out. A threat? Why would the man threaten him when he was protecting Kirara? Or was something else going on now?

"I think..." Gorobei began but Kirara cut him off.

"We can't, I can't let that happen. Maybe I should leave, he'll probably..."

"Stalker's don't work that way," Kyuzo stated and the two turned to him; "Just because you leave doesn't mean that he won't follow,"

Kirara paled at this information; "But..."

"What do you suggest?"

Kyuzo looked at his employer, knowing that his hands were tied with dealing such a wealthy man like Katsushiro and sighed;

"There is someone that I can call, but I need to speak with you first,"

"I bet Shichiroji would like to speak to you Kirara," Gorobei told her and she nodded, not willing to argue about this for once and left the office. The man sighed, sounding almost tired with the situation as he looked over to Kyuzo; "All right, so what do you think?"

"He's not working alone,"

He raised an eyebrow in surprise, wondering what made him think that.

"He is too easy to remove,"

"Wait, our guy's always have problems removing him..." Gorobei trailed off, realizing why that was.

"Because they are doing it solely due to her, to protect her, which makes him become more possessive of her. If they had done it more in a general term, removing him out of her line of sight, he would just leave,"

Gorobei nodded, Kyuzo had demonstrated that already; "All right, that is true..."

"The fact that he has been sending things to her... I don't think it fits," Kyuzo stated and noticed that Gorobei looked skeptical again; "He losses sight of her and he is no longer possessive, it doesn't fit, if anything this should just be a faze," He pauses for a moment; "I will called someone who is more... Experienced to help,"

"Thank you Kyuzo,"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Past

He placed the phone back in it's cradle and moved to lie on the bed, with his hands behind his head. He had done it, finally he had called Shimda Kanbei to help with this... Problem.

"_It's good to hear from you Kyuzo-dono, I have spoken to Shino about you..." Kanbei had begun to say._

"_When can you come to Seven Swords? The bar..." Kyuzo interrupted, which was unlike him and he had been well aware of it, but he didn't wish to hear what Shino had been saying about him to this man. _

_Once he had explained the whole situation to his former mentor there was silence, although Kyuzo could hear the other breathing._

"_This is unusual... And this man, Katsushiro, would drop the subject for this Kirara once she was out of sight? It does sound like there is more going on than just an obsession," Kanbei said; "I shall come over and aid you, but I can't promise that we can do much either, the police can easily freeze me out of any investigation there,"_

"_I just want to know who is behind this," Kyuzo told him._

"_All right, I shall be out there with the week; but keep an eye out on this Kirara. This Gorobei maybe able to keep her safe, but money speaks a lot louder than honor or respect,"_

"_I will,"_

Hearing that name though, Shino, had unsettled him. The fact that she had managed to find Kanbei after he left the college showed how good she was at her job. She had been his partner and eventually they went out with each other, due to that they had to make sure no one knew about the relationship as they did work well together and kept what went on in their private lives outside of their work.

It was rather amusing that they had ended up together, Shino was rather talkative, which would put any victims at ease with her careful questions and general warmth that seemed to come from her, but at the same time she remained focused and wouldn't go on about things that had no meaning to an investigation or just general conversation.

She loved Kyuzo, he knew that, but she lived independently to him as well which he appreciated since he had never wanted to be with someone who would cling to him. Heihachi had badgered him for months on why the pair split up, since there was no warning and no real factors for it at all.

"_Why did you break up?" He had asked his friend once more, who simply shrugged at him and said;_

"_We drifted apart,"_

_Heihachi didn't believe him, but didn't continue on the same vein for long; he was one of the few that Kyuzo called friend and he knew full well how stubborn the blonde could be if he didn't wish to tell someone something._

He smirked at that memory, Heihachi gave up and didn't question about the split any more, his friend still didn't know the truth to the break-up and if Kyuzo was truly honest with himself; he didn't want his friend to learn the truth.

_The woman sat across from him in the booth of the cafe and gave him a bundle of application forms._

"_If you want to do something with this degree..." She started but trailed off when Kyuzo just looked at her._

_She poured out some tea for them, gathering her thoughts and then took a sip, just waiting for him to finally speak._

"_You know I won't fill them out," He told her._

"_Kyuzo!" She slammed her hand onto the table; "Snap out of it! You have a dream... You can make it into a reality, you're not the type of man to just... Just give up on something that he worked so hard for," She paused to calm herself and looked into his eyes; "Just because Professor Shimada left doesn't mean you have to. He has been doing this for a lot longer... He fell into the trap that he should have known was coming..." She began to pull at the sleeve of her red jumper, a sign that she was annoyed; "I love you..."_

_Hearing those words and knowing that she meant them Kyuzo took her hand into his and kept looking into her eyes, seeing a whirlpool of emotions ranging from hope, love, despair, anger and annoyance._

_Shino was a woman who would follow her own dreams not matter what anyone, including her own family, would say, but to see that the man she loves would just stray from his dream, willingly walk away from it after all the hard work he had put into it... It made her question everything that they had together, as partners and lovers._

_Kyuzo knew what it meant for them, he could clearly hear the end coming._

"_I can't be with you any more," She finally told him, looking at her tea; "I won't give up on my own dream," _

_She looked up at him, and he could see the unshed tears as he nodded in agreement. He wasn't going to argue with her, they both knew that wasn't what he was like._

"_We're on different paths," He told her, his hand caressed her own before pulling back._

"_I just..." She shook her head; "I just don't understand," Was the last words she said to him as she walked out of the cafe._

He could have fought for her love, but he knew it wouldn't have been fair to her. Her dream was to be part of the force, his dream had been depleted.

Now? Well, Shimada Kambei would be working with him, at least to help him figure out Katsushiro and why he has such an obsession with Kirara.

"Hey," Heihachi came in with some tea, Kyuzo sat up and took a cup; "So... Did you call him?"

He nodded; "Should be here in the next week," He noticed that his friend was a bit shifty and smirked; "Listened in?"

Heihachi looked nervous but nodded; "He's spoken to Shino..."

_Should I?_ Kyuzo thought to himself, knowing what the question was going to be.

"Why did you give up on her?"

He looked at his friend, startled. _Give up on her?_

"Kyuzo, you two worked brilliantly together, everyone knew something was going on, when you all graduated it was a bit more obvious," Heihachi shrugged; "I know it's not my business, that's why you never told me about the reasoning, but she was a good match for you..."

"I wanted to work with _him_," He informed his friend who just raised an eyebrow; "There was a... Challenge about him,"

"That's why you gave up on it all? Kyuzo, you're an idiot," Heihachi scolded his friend, his words weren't harsh, it would take more than a few wrong choices to get harsh words from this man, but he did sound disappointed.

He continued; "Why did you tell her? She should have gotten an explanation,"

A small, sad smile appeared on Kyuzo's lips; "Because my dream was held back, her's had only just begun,"

The ginger haired man looked at his friend; the bouncer, the fighter, the man who could get inside your head if he tried, a man who gave up.

"She's probably waiting for you, just waiting for your own dream to be ignited again," As he spoke Kyuzo shook his head.

"It's over between us. We haven't seen each other for some time, things have changed,"

Kyuzo drank his tea, thinking it over. Right there and then he was content with his life and although he did miss Shino, for so many reasons, not just physical, but her dream and his were no longer together and he had believed it to be better for them both to separate then and there rather than for them to hate each other later.

Although he did think of what Heihachi had said, if Shino was waiting for him and his dream to regain the spark... Perhaps she was, but he knew better than to think of it.

Right now, his dream might very well be getting back on track.


End file.
